


Like Father, Like Son

by yotsu7777



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: Abuse, Angst, Heavy Angst, Past Child Abuse, Sad Ending, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-09 04:07:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16442690
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yotsu7777/pseuds/yotsu7777
Summary: Tamaki thinks Sougo is hiding something and decides to confront him.





	Like Father, Like Son

**Author's Note:**

> There is a lot of abuse here, both mentions of past domestic violence and abuse in the present. Please read with discretion.

“Sou-chan, are you hiding something?” Tamaki asked shoving a spoonful of King Pudding into his mouth. Sougo jumped and laughed nervously with a guilty look on his face.

“Of course not. What makes you think that Tamaki-kun?” he replied, forcing his usual polite smile.

“You’ve been jumpy lately,” Tamaki said, “and you’re always scurrying around.”

“Not at all, you must be imagining things,” Sougo’s smile waned for a brief millisecond, so quick that if you blinked, you would have missed it, but Tamaki noticed it. He recognised the patterns in Sougo’s actions, the way he was always on edge and his voice would shake when confronted. He had witnessed that same behaviour countless times when he was young, his own mother would do the same, and with the same polite smile, she would lie to his drunkard father. He could see the fear in his mother’s eyes as his father would stumble across the room and raise the empty bottle of cheap chemical alcohol. He remembered covering Aya’s eyes as the sound of glass shattering filled the room, their ears ringing with his mother’s screams and pleadings. The worst part of it all was when his mother went silent and his father would stumble around, kicking down chairs and tables before finally opening the front door and slamming it shut. Tamaki would count to 100, having learnt the hard way that sometimes his father would wait for him to come out, so he could punish him for siding with his mother. After reaching 100, he would tell Aya to go hide under the bed and then he would quietly tiptoe to the body of his mother, wiping the blood from her wounds and doing the best first aid a child of such a young age could do. She would often tell him to take Aya and run away, but he just couldn’t bring himself to leave his mother; he knew just how badly she would be “punished” if they ran away. And so, they continued their days living in fear of the tyrant who brought them to the gates of heaven countless times before dragging them straight back down to hell.

“Tamaki-kun?” Sougo asked, standing behind the sofa Tamaki was sitting, leaning over. Tamaki looked up at his worried face.

“Sou-chan…”

“Are you alright? I’ve been calling you for a while now,” he touched Tamaki’s forehead with the back of his hand, “dinner’s ready. After that, maybe you should sleep?”

“Let’s eat!” Tamaki stood up and the two ate in the dining room of the empty dorm building. The rest of the members had gone out for work or to meet with others, leaving Mezzo” alone in the building that seemed all too big for 2 people. They ate in silence, both searching for ways to start a conversation, but nothing worthwhile came to mind. Sougo had barely touched his meal when Tamaki had finished, Tamaki asked if he could have the rest so Sougo let him eat it, not really feeling like eating.

“Sou-chan, we have a shoot tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, make sure you take a coat, beaches can get really cold.”

“Okay,” Tamaki opened the fridge door, “Sou-chan… where are my King Puddings?”

“Did you eat them all?” Sougo asked, putting a washed bowl on the dish rack.

“No. They were here this morning! Ten of them! And now there’s none!” Tamaki searched the fridge, roughly pushing the food items away.

“Are you sure?” Sougo asked, now washing his hands and drying them with his apron.

“Yeah! Look!” Tamaki pulled the receipt out of his hoodie pocket and shoved it in Sougo’s face, slamming the fridge door shut. Sougo took a step back, his back against the kitchen counter.

“Maybe someone else ate them?”

“Who would eat 10 King Puddings without me noticing!”

“I really don’t know, how about we ask the other members when we get back, okay?”

Tamaki sighed, shoving the receipt back in his pocket and walking off.

“Where are you going?” Sougo asked, worried.

“Toilet!” Tamaki replied angrily, the sound of the toilet door slamming against the frame resounding throughout the house. Sougo relaxed, the tension leaving his body. He slumped down on the sofa and breathed a sigh of relief. Soon enough he heard the door of the bathroom open again, but Tamaki didn’t come back to the living room. Instead, he opened another door and then shut it quietly. Sougo heard the sound of things being moved around and drawers being opened, but then it went quiet again. He closed his eyes, exhausted, and waited for Tamaki to return from whatever he was doing.

 

“Sou-chan,” a voice said from just in front of the snoozing Sougo. He snapped his eyes open immediately and looked at Tamaki who had a strange expression on his face.

“Tamaki-kun? What’s wrong?”

“What’s this?” Tamaki asked, lifting a black carrier bag up in front of Sougo’s face and shaking it. The distinct sound of glass clinking against glass filled the room.

“I don’t know,” Sougo replied calmly, but that answer seemed to rile Tamaki up even more.

“You don’t know, huh? Then how come I found it under your bed?”

“I—”

“You can’t blame it on the other members, only you and I were in the dorm since we’ve bought them, and I sure as hell didn’t put them there.”

“Tamaki-kun, I can explain!”

“Explain what?”

“You’ve been eating too many sweets lately and it’s not good for your health! I was planning on returning them, just not all at once!”

“Oh yeah?” Tamaki asked. Sougo’s heart raced, he knew this sort of passive-aggressive anger well. It wasn’t the normal, fiery anger that blew over after Tamaki had shouted his point and stormed off. It was the complete opposite. It was a cold, suffocating anger, one where you would be confronted countless times and asked to prove yourself all while your confronter watched, letting their anger grow stronger. Sougo’s own father had got angry at him like this numerous times, and Sougo knew just how much more this anger hurt. It was one that would fill your entire being with fear and self-loathing. Many a time he had craved his father would just shout and hit him normally, instead of confronting him in such a cruel, sterile manner.

“Sou-chan.”

“Y-yes?”

“Let’s count the Puddings, shall we?”

Tamaki put the bag on the coffee table.

“1 King Pudding, 2 King Pudding, 3 King Pudding, oh? What’s this?” Tamaki flattened out the paper and lay it on the table, he then took out a banana peel, a plastic wrapper, a used tissue and an empty can of coffee. “You want to return these?”

“No,” Sougo began, but the words were caught in his throat. Tamaki tipped the bag over and the rest of the King Puddings and some other rubbish scattered all over the floor.

“Did I ever hide your things from you? Don’t you trust me?”

“That’s not it,” Sougo struggled to form a solid sentence, the repressed childhood fears paralysing him from head to toe.

“THEN WHAT IS? TELL ME, SOU-CHAN, SO I CAN UNDERSTAND!” Tamaki exploded.

Sougo relaxed a bit, he preferred this impulsive anger, it was much easier for him to process. But just by loosening up a bit, he managed to make Tamaki even angrier, and for the months to come, he would agonise over this seemingly insignificant action, blaming his mistake for their sour relationship.

“Tamaki-kun, I’ll buy you some more so let’s throw these away,” Sougo said, reaching for one of the King Puddings. Tamaki angry slapped his hand away.

“I don’t want more, I wanted these!”

“I’m really sorry, I should have asked you about it first. I won’t do it again so let’s clear up this mess, okay?”

“Why are you so desperate? Are you hiding something else as well?”

“No,” Tamaki glared at him, “I just don’t want the other members to worry.”

“Okay,” Tamaki had calmed down now. He and Sougo picked up the Puddings and the other various bottles and wrappers and put them on the table. Tamaki picked the black carrier bag and turned it upside down by accident. Out of it fell another tightly scrunched ball of paper. Intrigued, Tamaki began to unfold it.

“Don’t!” Sougo shouted, hitting his head against the edge of the coffee table as he tried to stand up, but it was too late. Tamaki read the contents of the paper and scrunched it up again.

“Sou-chan, why did you lie to me!” he shouted, throwing the ball across the room.

“I’m sorry you said—I mean I didn’t—I thought it might be…” Sougo trailed off, desperately trying to explain.

“Might be what? Do you hate me that much that you can’t bear to live in the same building as me?” There were tears in Tamaki’s eyes and his harsh voice echoed in Sougo’s ears.

“It’s not what you think…”

 

Yamato was on his way back from filming the new drama he was starring in. As he approached the dorm building, he heard shouting. He sighed, thinking it was one of Tamaki’s usual tantrums. He fumbled for the keys and put them in the keyhole in a relaxed manner when suddenly he heard the sound of glass shattering. He frantically pushed the door open and ran to where the commotion was coming from, not bothering to take his shoes or jacket off. The scene before his eyes was one he wasn’t expecting to see even in his worst of nightmares. Tamaki was standing in front of the sofa, his back to Yamato. He was looking down at his hands while muttering _“I’m sorry”_ over and over again. As Yamato approached, he accidentally stepped on a shard of glass, which cracked under the sole of his shoes. Tamaki looked up at him, his face soaked in tears. The floor was littered with still rolling jars of King Pudding and differently sized shards of glass, some soaked in a bright, red liquid. In the middle of it all way a body lying on its side.

“Sou!” he shouted, squatting down and shaking the body. His left cheek was bright red and his lip had split. The door opened again and the lively voices of Mitsuki, Iori, Riku and Nagi could be heard.

“Mitsu, can you take everyone to go buy some milk?” Yamato said. Mitsuki appeared in the hallway, followed by the other three.

“Tell the other three to wait over there,” Yamato added, Mitsuki nodded. Once he was sure they wouldn’t follow, he approached Tamaki and Yamato.

“What’s wro—oh my god!”

“I’ll sort things out here, you just take the others and don’t come back till I call you.”

“Got it,” Mitsuki was about to leave but he came back and patted Tamaki on the back.

“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay!”

When Yamato was sure he heard the door shut, he turned to Tamaki.

“Tama, help me out.”

Tamaki snapped out of his trance and nodded. He opened the doors and moved things out of the way while Yamato carried the unbelievably light body to its room. He tucked Sougo into bed and left the room to get some water and antiseptic. Tamaki followed him and filled an ice pack with some ice from the freezer. The two tended to Sougo’s wounds, not saying a word. When they were done, Yamato hugged Tamaki and told him to go to sleep. Tamaki tried to protest, but he realised it was for the best. Half an hour or so later, the rest of the members returned, and Yamato ushered them to turn in for the night in a hushed voice. There was more whispering, doors opened and closed, the phone rung a few times followed by even more whispering but then it went silent again.

At around midnight, Mitsuki and Yamato were whispering outside of the door of Tamaki’s room. Mitsuki opened the door and sat down on the edge of the bed, Yamato leaned against the wall next to him. Tamaki sat up, expecting them to get angry at him, but instead, they had these looks of concern that made Tamaki hate himself even more.

“What happened?” Yamato asked eventually.

“I… don’t know,” Tamaki muttered, hesitantly.

“Take your time, there’s no pressure,” Mitsuki said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I didn’t think he’d fall… I just wanted him to shut up… I didn’t mean to do it…”

“Do what, Tama?”

“I didn’t want to… but when I noticed… he was already on the floor…”

“Tamaki, how did he fall?”

“I…” Tamaki gulped. He didn’t want to admit what he had done. Admitting to his actions would mean he was no better than his good-for-nothing father who he vowed to never be like. But he knew he had to take responsibility. Mitsuki and Yamato probably already had a vague idea of what happened; hiding the truth from them would be just as bad as doing the same thing to Sougo again.

“I hit him.”

Yamato and Mitsuki exchanged a glance and nodded. They had hoped it wasn’t the truth, but all of the evidence pointed to only one conclusion.

“The doctor said he would come tomorrow morning to check on Sou and Banri has already arranged to replace the coffee table.” Yamato started, unsure of what exactly he should say to the boy who had raised his hand against his partner.

“We’ll talk again tomorrow with Banri and the Chairman, but Mezzo” will probably have to go on hiatus for a while,” Mitsuki added, worried about how the remorseful boy would take his words.

“Anyways, get some rest. I’ll call the director of your shoot tomorrow and tell them you won’t be able to make it.” Yamato said, making his way for the door, Mitsuki followed, adding a worried _“goodnight”._ Yamato let him leave first and then turned to Tamaki.

“The apartment was for your surprise party,” he said, shutting the door softly. Tamaki let out an anguished scream as he sobbed, knowing that what he did could never be erased. A misunderstanding so small had destroyed the bond that had once been stronger than steel. Just outside the door, a shaking Mitsuki comforted Yamato who had covered his eyes with his hand and cried silently, regretting not arriving a second earlier. Perhaps he would have been able to interfere and prevent the disbandment of Mezzo” and IDOLiSH7.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really sorry  
> I saw Tamaki's Rabbit Hoodie chat and got the idea...  
> I condone all acts of violence. What Tamaki did was wrong. Yamato and Mitsuki knew that, they just weren't sure what exactly to do. The ending is depressing, but it was the only ending that seemed right.  
> Next time I will try to write something less dark.


End file.
